title: The use and characteristics of elderspeak in Swedish geriatric institutions.
abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of elderspeak in a Swedish context and to describe its characteristics. Elderspeak refers to adjustments made in communication with elderly people; adjustments similar to those made in interaction with infants. Previous findings show that adjustments of communication are made within several linguistic domains, and are a part of the communicative environment of elderly people. Five people working in different forms of geriatric institutions participated in this study, and data consist of recordings of interactions between caregivers and residents (without dementia) and interactions between caregivers and colleagues. The recordings were transcribed and analyzed by means of perceptual, semantic and acoustic analyses. The findings demonstrate that caregivers, to a varying extent, adjusted their communication within several linguistic domains. The adjustments were mainly made within the prosodic domain, but there were also adjustments made within other language domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University , Linköping , Sweden .
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Samuelsson
authors.forename: Elin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Adolfsson
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Persson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D063506:Ageism; D003144:Communication Barriers; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D012112:Residential Facilities; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception